What you are going to do today will alter the course of your lives forever and may be the most important decision you ever make.

That was the powerful message to eight young Army recruits from the West Midlands who pledged their allegiance to Queen and country. Within two years, they may be fighting the Taliban.

The eight sworn in at the Army Careers Office in Wolverhampton will head off to Catterick barracks, in North Yorkshire, on Sunday to join the 3rd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment and complete 26 weeks’ intensive combat training.

The battalion will then go to Fallingbostel, Germany, before they are posted to Afghanistan in 2011.

For 23-year-old former car salesman Andrew Bromley, the oath paved the way for him to realise his life-long ambition.

“I applied to join when I was 16, but I had been suffering from asthma so I didn’t get in.

“I was so pleased to get in this time and I can’t wait to get over to Germany.”

Andrew, of Deansfield, Wolverhampton, admitted he would miss his family and friends when he was finally posted abroad.

“I’m a bit upset to leave them all, but I’ll be able to visit them every now and then,” he said.

Another Wolverhampton recruit, Lee Lough, aged 26, of Norton Canes, Cannock, said joining the Army offered better prospects than staying at Arnold Clark, in West Bromwich, where he was a panel beater.

“It’s something I have always wanted to do since I was a kid,” he said.

“I want to get out there and see the world and make some new friends.”

Former painter and decorator Christian Kraljevic, aged 21, of Willenhall, said: “I wanted to join the Army because it has better prospects than a lot of other careers.

“I can’t wait to start.”